A failure by European Union governments to agree on extending an arms embargo on Syria effectively ends the EU's ban on supplying arms to Syrian rebels, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday.

A failure by European Union governments to agree on extending an arms embargo on Syria effectively ends the EU's ban on supplying arms to Syrian rebels, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday.

"We have brought to an end the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition," Hague said after inconclusive talks between EU foreign ministers. He said Britain had no immediate plans to send arms to Syria.

He said EU member states would reassert all other existing EU sanctions on Syria.